It feels fresh at the start, but it fizzles out.
An unseen narrator suggests a wide range of what-ifs, each playing out in a single scene among a group of animals.
Liwska’s animal group includes bears, mice, elephants, and more, but because they’re all drawn in the same range of browns and grays, with similar curved pencil hatchings for fur/skin, and closer to the same size than realism would dictate, they feel like a tightknit community. When one is depicted calling out a window to oblivious figures who are all wearing earbuds, the text—“What if no one could hear you?”—is truly upsetting. Some of the what-ifs pair as unsettling opposites: Across from “What if no one could hear you?” sits “What if everyone could?” as the same character vainly trying to attract attention before is now seen snoring in public. Many hypotheticals are tenderly humorous. “What if there was only one kind?”—and all tea was banana-flavored? What if a seed doesn’t grow—or does, but a bespectacled burrowing animal snaps off the carrot underground and eats it? Soft pencil drawings in a muted palette bring comfort to moments of concern. However, there’s an unexpected prescriptive turn. Moving from musings on vulnerability to ponderings such as “What if we all work together?” and “What if everyone shared?” the text shifts into banal hypotheticals that even the youngest readers will recognize as instructions. Nothing wrong with activism, but this is a bait-and-switch.
It feels fresh at the start, but it fizzles out. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-76701-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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